A Flawed Terrorist Yardstick

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pittsburgh21dec21,1,2211339.story?coll=la-home-headlines

A Flawed Terrorist Yardstick

The Justice Dept. tally of more than 280 suspects detained for prosecution after Sept. 11 is inflated with dismissed and unrelated cases.

By Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writer


PITTSBURGH — In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ali Alubeidy was in the cross hairs of the Justice Department, singled out as a potential terrorist by no less than U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft.

In fact, he was guilty — of paying off a corrupt bureaucrat to get a commercial driver's license, including a permit to transport hazardous materials. His sentence: three years' probation.

But the terrorism case against him never got off the ground. Prosecutors soon realized he was not a terrorist or involved in any terrorist organization, and even said so publicly.

To the Justice Department, however, Alubeidy, and a group of 19 other Middle Eastern men caught up in the driver's license scam, still count. They are included on a list of more than 280 cases that the department cites as evidence that it is winning the war on terrorism.
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More-

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pittsburgh21dec21,1,2211339.story?coll=la-home-headlines

You mean they are not all the bad Al Queda operatives hell bent on killing this planet that my POS gov. told me they were?

any Muslim that got a parking ticket in the last year or so as well.

. . As a Canadian, reading parts of the Act, and watching news items, I have NO intention of visiting the USA ever again as long as it is in force, or people like King George are at the helm.

. . Already we have seen the USA deport a KNOWN Canadian citizen to another country. Yah, we got him back after many months, but I suspect there are OTHERS that we DON'T know about, and may never know. I for one will not take the chance of being in that number.

. . As for the poor American citizens that fall under the "umbrella" of the Patriot Act and/or the eye of the BFEE, you have my sympathies.

Back to the posted article:

"Although the report card largely has been used as a public-relations tool, courts are starting to weigh in on the substantive aspects of how the department classifies and treats perceived terrorists. Last week, a federal appeals court in New York rebuked Bush's decision in May 2002 to declare Brooklyn-born gang member Jose Padilla an "enemy combatant," and ordered that the government either charge him with a crime or release him."

/snip/

"But the list obtained by The Times also includes two New Jersey men, operators of small grocery stores, who were convicted of accepting hundreds of boxes of stolen breakfast cereal, in a crime that occurred 16 months before the terrorist hijackings.

Also included is a Somali who was convicted in federal district court in Boston of operating an unlicensed money-transfer business, in which the judge rebuked prosecutors for trying to have him sentenced as a terrorist."

/snip/

"Alubeidy, 36, and a friend from Iraq operated a used-car sale and repair business in Pittsburgh. Shortly after their names surfaced in the local media in connection with the Sept. 11 investigation, their garage was destroyed by a fire. "

/snip/

And so on - there are so many instances that we DON'T know about, and may never know.

Right, Georgie-Boy. These people feel ALOT safer now !!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&e=2&u=/latimes_ts/20031221/ts_latimes/aflawedterroristyardstick

Yahoo! removed the New York Times this week. Just added LAT to my listings, beats their annoying registration system.

fifth graph and on gets into */Justice lies/spin:

The growing list has been regularly highlighted by Ashcroft and other Justice Department officials in speeches and congressional testimony, and even by President Bush. In an address to federal law enforcement officials on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush referred to the "more than 260 suspected terrorists" that the government has hauled to court.

...

But a Times review of a sampling of the cases behind the numbers, based in part on internal Justice documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, paints a more ambiguous picture.

...

The Times' request for government records on the cases turned up a highly redacted accounting covering only about half the number that Ashcroft trumpets. Some of those cases were on a list that the department produced in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks in response to a lawsuit by civil liberties groups.

....

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LAT then runs down a number of cases that seem to be trumpted up.

This is yet another story that's getting absolutely zero play on TV today, thanks to the we're-all-gonna-die yellow alert coverage.

Sickening. I say again: F*ck you, George W. Bush, international terrorist.

. .


ONE MORE LEVEL TO GO !!

Yup Yup - We feel safer NOW Georgie-Boy !!

That'll keep alot of us Canuks on our own side of the border anyhoo !!

Well Done GeeDumbya !

Nobody.

Consider this investigative report my vote for 2nd biggest ignored story of the last week or so. (Kurds + Saddam #1).

Thus far ignored. Hope this gets some play, some traction. So many little distracting bits of non-news or just politics to contend with.

Candidates should work this point. A$$croft has bungled exactly all of the major cases. What's up with Mousaui (forgive that spelling, looks wrong)? Padillia and other US citizen "terrorist" fed reversals this week too. Gitmo and everything in Afghanistan, on the Pentagon side, is a total mess too.

In fact anything the admin touches that actually has to do with terrorism is a complete failure. Code Orange and can we detect a nuke? Are our borders locked? Can we respond to bio? No no no, we are not safer by far.

Do we even know how many people got caught up is A$$croft's dragnet, some number shipped off, without catching a single bin-Laden associate? No, nobody knows. Safe bet that made some US savvy terrorists though.